Top photo:  the view out my hotel window in Azay-le-Rideau

Riding along the Loire River

Chateau Chambord

The Cathedral at Chartres (the guy in the blue jacket in front of the cathedral is Farid, our quirky tour guide)

I know how to pronounce very little of that.  I figured out the name of the village where we are staying by looking at the local weather on my phone.  I had heard people say it but that didn't mean I knew what the word was.

We are having a marvelous time.  Yesterday was a calmer day, riding the bus through the countryside and the like.  We attended mass in a 13th century cathedral.  It was incredible.  I felt my nothingness and the insignificance of my troubles in the face of such longevity.  How many prayers have been uttered in that space?

Besides the castle we visited, the Loire River is dotted with them all along the way.  They were originally fortresses but when methods of war changed, they turned the fortresses into castles.  So much history!  In the western U.S. things are old if they are from the late 1800s!

We are about to leave for another day of adventures.  I had better get myself together!